Obama cries as he thanks campaign staff

11/8/12 7:39 PM EST

President Obama got emotional Wednesday as he thanked his staff at campaign headquarters in Chicago.

"I'm just looking around the room and I'm thinking wherever you guys end up ... you're just gonna do great things," Obama told his mostly young campaign staff in a video released by the campaign on Thursday night.

"And that's why even before last night's results, I felt that the work that I had done in running for office had come full circle," he said, his voice breaking up. "Because what you guys have done means that the work that I am doing is important."

"And I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud of all of you," he said, a tear rolling down his right cheek. As he wiped it away, the crowd of hundreds broke into applause. Obama also choked up on Monday night as he spoke at his final campaign rally in Iowa.

Obama recalled his time as a 20-something working as a community organizer in Chicago and "didn't know at all what I was doing." His staff, he said, is "so much better than I was."

"The most important thing you need to know is that your journey is just beginning, you're just starting," he said. "And whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come. And that's been my source of hope."

"That's why, over the last four years, when people ask me about, 'how do you put up with this or that or the frustrations of Washington?' I just think about you," he continued. "And that's the source of my hope, that's the source of my strength and my insipration. And I know that you guys won't disappoint me because I've already seen who you guys are. And you all are just remarkable people and you've lifted me up each and every step of the way."